Stained Glass Windows

How was it that the Dutch, who live in a very small country, were able to dominate world trade during the seventeenth century? A quick look at the historical backdrop helps to answer that question.

When Dukes of Burgundy ruled the Low Countries (during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries), Bruges was part of the Burgundian Netherlands. Then a Burgundian (Mary of Burgundy) married a Habsburg (Maximilian), and the map changed (in 1477) as the Seventeen Provinces of the Low Countries were now ruled by the Habsburgs (of the Holy Roman Empire).

In 1547, the Spanish branch of the Habsburg Empire took control of the Seventeen Provinces. Bruges (as part of the Southern Netherlands) was still an important city while Amsterdam (which began as a small fishing village near the end of the twelfth century) did not yet have its semicircular ring of canals.

Growing increasingly tired of Spanish control and repression (including religious persecution through the Inquisition), the Dutch revolted. That led to eighty years of war and disruption, causing wealthy and educated people in Bruges (who were already in trouble because their town no longer had direct access to the North Sea) to flee north. Those immigrants from Flanders (and elsewhere) helped Amsterdam, and the newly established Dutch Republic, to grow and prosper. Before long, the Netherlands (which today consists of Twelve Provinces) commenced its Golden Age.

How did the Dutch spend some of their money during the 1600s? Let's explore Amsterdam, a city of culture, bicycles, famous paintings, interesting homes (some are just a few meters wide), gabled architecture, numerous canals, rainy skies, stunning nighttime views and churches with stained-glass windows.

• The Oude Kerk ("old church"), dating back to the early thirteenth century, is Amsterdam's oldest church. Its present structure, built in the fourteenth century, boasts lovely wooden vaults and stunning stained-glass windows.
  
  
• The Nieuwe Kerk ("new church"), also built in the fourteenth century, became a Protestant place of worship in the sixteenth. It is at Dam Square, in the center of Amsterdam, and contains priceless windows.
  

One can also find modern colored glass in Amsterdam (and elsewhere). Let's look at some examples by Louis Comfort Tiffany, one of the world's most famous creators of modern stained glass.